Anthony Mazzarelli L’03, who
recently finished his residency at
Cooper Medical Hospital in Camden,
N.J., has a master’s in bioethics
from Penn. He says the Certificate
in Law fills gaps in the medical
school curriculum by schooling
doctors in areas in which they are
deficient, such as reimbursement
and regulatory issues and the laws
of empowerment. “In the emergency
department you have to make
very quick decisions, and sometimes
we get lost inside the medicine,”
he says. “Having trained in
bioethics, I would like to think that
I can step back and look at the bigger
picture. It doesn’t make me a
better physician as much as a better
patient advocate.”

As professor Ted Ruger discovered
in his class on FDA regulation last fall, attended by a
medical resident researching the safety of dermatological
drugs, law students also have much to gain from M.D. candidates.
“I’d like to see this trend continue,” says Ruger of the
intermingling of medical, communications and liberal arts
students with law students.

By all accounts, such interaction produces lively dialogue and
well-rounded professionals. It might even open doors to new
careers, as it did for Christopher Segal, who found classes at the
Law School challenging, but rewarding. “It absolutely furthered
my interest in law,” he says.